hats off to saif

salaam namaste, last night, alone (sanat is ni hao-ing in chi-country). nothing better than to stretch out and enjoy saif ali khan to the fullest. if you ask me, he is the hindi film industry's best comedian. not in buffoonery, mind you, but in pure unadulterated expressions that have you clutching your sides and guffawing. javed jaffery's dialogues also were to die for.

Lathon ke bhooth baaton se nahin maante
Ghost of the kicks not listening to the talks

typical indian fashion of planting "the"s everywhere and butchering english. and somehow preity, even with a tad bit of over-reacting and being loud, endears herself to you immediately with those happy dimples and heart-felt smile. arshad warsi is the unassuming find of the hindi film industry. the guy can act (have you seen sehar?) and is great at comedy -- again, not buffoonery of keshto, jagdeep and johnny lever, yuk -- but just reacting perfectly -- no overacting here -- to absolutely silly situations. yup, you can tell i loved the movie.

the disbelief part: whoever heard of a radio jockey's salary paying for med school in a first world country and a beach house to rent?! last i heard, med school kids only sleep in their spare time, being on call most nights. but preity (hambar... no, ambar), studying to become a surgeon has time for plenty more. and she does up the house really well... but again, these things cost money, no? not in australia apparently ;)

but hey -- thankfully, the movie is not judgemental or preachy about anything -- living-in before marriage, pregnancy before marriage, abortion, etc. adults (you know, parents, in-laws etc) are left out of it and it is purely a 20-30-something's point of view. came across as a pretty honest take.

the funny part is, i was looking for serious movies to watch (Utsav, Ghar) but no one had them and Salaam-namaste came my way instead.

willing suspension of disbelief is a small price to pay for a good laugh.